BBCJ reunion within the Vilnius Forum

On 24–25 October 2016 the delegations of all BBCJ members attended the Vilnius Forum, organized within the framework of the cooperation project „Assistance to the Constitutional Courts of Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine in ensuring the implementation and protection of the rule of law”, supported and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania within the Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Programme. Also, the forum was attended by the delegation of the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland, as special guests.

In his opening address to the conference participants, President of the Constitutional Court Dainius Žalimas, in his capacity of host and iniator of the project, has noted that this reunion serves as further evidence that the cooperation between the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania and the Constitutional Courts of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine is intensive, continuously developed and strengthened.

Also, Mr. Dainius Žalimas underscored that this cooperation format represents a successful continuation of the collaboration of Constitutional Courts in view of achieving the higher-level objectives of the represented states correlated to the aim of the European Union to strengthen democratic processes in the Eastern Partnership countries. The President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania has expressed hope that such four-party conferences of constitutional courts that are in line with the objectives of development cooperation and democracy promotion will become a fine tradition

Mr. Yurii Baulin, Chairman of the Constitutional Curt of Ukraine, underlined that the Vilnius Forum is particularly important in helping the constitutional justice institutions to solve problems in their countries, since recent events in Crimea and eastern Ukraine highlight the vulnerability of the protection of the principles of the rule of law and make it necessary to look for solutions to overcome the difficulties that have arisen.

Mr. Zaza Tavadze, President of the Constitutional Court of Georgia, in turn, noted that such reunions provide an opportunity to discuss new tendencies of constitutional jurisprudence.

The representatives of the delegation of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova has pointed out that the European integration process has brought new challenges in the field of constitutional justice, therefore it is important to ensure that justices of constitutional courts have an opportunity to constantly share their experience and knowledge. Also, the CCM delegation expressed its appreciation for the cooperation between the Constitutional Courts participating in the Forum, members of the Association of Constitutional Justice of the Countries of the Baltic and Black Sea Regions (BBCJ), which contributes significantly to strengthening the assertion of the supremacy of the Constitution. In addition, the opportunity of organizing the Forum is even more relevant due to the fact that the event marks the one year anniversary of the creation of the Association.

The Forum represents one of the series of reunions of BBCJ members, following the First BBCJ Congress held in Chișinău – Moldova, in June 2016.